DONUTS

Sometimes things happen for a reason.  Seriously, they do!  I’m going to just say one last time…July has been the month from H E double hockey sticks!    It’s been a disaster emotionally and physically.  I ate and ate and ate.  I gained a total of 1 pound for the month of July.  It could have been worse (thank God for the flu).  I can use excuses about the restricted exercise.  I can use excuses about the emotions that kicked me A$$.  I can do all of that, but I have to also admit that I was like a shark in  chum filled water.  It was a feeding frenzy that grew a little more crazy each day.   No more.  I want to get to my goal and I know how to do it!

When the doctor told me I had a debilitating and life threatening injury that would prevent me from running or doing anything high impact I was bummed out.  My running was progressing.  I was seeing progress in my running.  I was having some fast paced runs. Seriously, I was starting to rival Jackie Joyner Kercee  in speed.  (shut up….. I know that I’m old and out of touch with the current stuff….but that’s the only runner I could think of!)  I was flying on my runs.  I was even breaking a 12 minute mile on some of my good runs.  OK, so maybe I was only rivaling her in my head, but the victory to me was just the same.  It was only a few months earlier that I couldn’t even run 60 seconds without feeling as if I was going to collapse in a heap of sweaty fat on the side of the road.  I had gotten to the point where I could run straight without stopping. I had pushed myself through the ‘You can’t do this’ mentality and starting just doing it.  I was starting to see my average pace drop.  I was DOING IT.    I had broken my goal of running a 5k in less than 40 minutes…in fact I blew my goal out of the water.   I was registered for the Krumpes Donut Alley Rally.   In case you don’t know what Krumpes is….Krumpes has been a tradition in my family for longer than I’ve been around.  My parents would leave church on Sunday nights (way back int he 70's)  and swing down to this little alley donut shop that was open from late evening until early morning and pick up donuts.  When my parents left Hagerstown to go to Bible College and work in the ministry as a preacher and preachers wife, we would still visit family in Hagerstown,  Krumpes donuts were a staple on each visit.  Eventually we moved back to this area and my brother introduced his kids to the love of a Krumpe Donut.  So when I heard that Krumpes was doing a 5k I KNEW it was one I wanted to do.  In fact, I wanted to do this run before I even started running seriously.  This is the epitome of running. (and they BETTER give me a free donut after I flail around acting like I’m running!)  Anyway, I registered for this run a few months back.  In fact, this is the run that I based my future running off of.  I’ve said over and over that I will give running a go until August 9^th…..I will reevaluate at that time.  Ever wonder why August 9^th?   Well, because that’s the date of the Donut Alley Rally!  I wanted to do this run.  I NEEDED to do this run.  So when the doctor told me on July 3^rd that I shouldn’t be doing anything that was remotely high impact and to even limit walking for 4-6 weeks I was panicked.  That put me RIGHT at the Donut Alley Rally.  I waited….I watched.  I tried the sleeping boot.  I tried the shoe inserts, I bought the slip over arch supports.  I started taping my foot.  I iced and simultaneously rolled my foot on a frozen water bottle.  I stopped wearing heels.  I stopped any activity that caused an impact.  About a week or two I bought new running shoes.  I was getting antsy to recommence with running.   Yesterday I started to run.  My foot isn’t 100% well…but I’ve got a race to run.   I’m only giving myself a week and a half to prepare for it after exactly 5 weeks away from running.  So while I talked for a while about aiming for a new PR on the Donut Alley Rally, I will be running it to just plain and simply run it.  My goal is to finish it at this point.   

Oh, and my reevaluation about running….I’m going to continue.  

This upcoming race stressed me out for a while.  I wanted to run it so bad and I sat nursing an injury….trying to learn how to manage it and cause it to ease up.  I eventually said, ok…the event is raising money for a good cause one that escapes my memory at this time, so my money isn’t going to be wasted if I don’t run it.   That made me feel a bit better.   But this morning when I was running I realized that being preregistered for this race was a good thing…just as having the injury was a good thing.

The injury was good because it forced me to get out on my bike and push through the pain of ridinga road bike versus a mountain bike.  This was made easier since biking was my sole form of exercise (that could be because I was too lazy to make it to the gym to use the elliptical….oops).   Being preregistered for the race has motivated me to push myself.  Some may say I started back too early….but seriously, how long must one wait…because I know the old Maryfran would have waited until 6 years after the last twinge of pain had left my body.

Yesterday morning's run left me with 4.09 miles left to complete in July.  There was NO FREAKING WAY that I was going to miss my mileage goal by 4.09 miles.  I knew that Wednesday was to be a zumba day and that there was a good chance that I would get a short walk in with my husband but nothing NEAR the 4.09 miles….so I got off work at 6, ran to the pharmacy to pick up my husbands medicine, went to a store and picked him up a snack and then stopped him off his snack, drink and meds.  Then I rushed home to gear up like Lance Armstrong (albeit one without drugs in my system) and head out to get a few miles under my belt. Oh wait, it was getting late so I ended up gearing up and riding my exercise bike like a wild woman.  7.5 miles down..and my mileage goal is COMPLETE!!!!  YAY!!!!!


This morning....weighed myself and my weight is DROPPIING!   ~~cue angels singing~~